First news concerned Jeff Sebastian.
It was announced that he would be playing in the German DEL, having reportedly been
offered around twice the salary that he could have earned in the UK.
Almost immediately Garth Premak announced his decision to hang up his skates and return to
Canada.
At the start of May Scotty O'Connor was released and signed for Peterborough Pirates in
the BNL.
Toward the end of May Graham Waghorn followed O'Connor to the Pirates after eight
seasons.
At the start of June Marc Twaites' long running release saga came to an end when he
finally signed for MK Kings.
July 12th arrived with news of Panthers first signings for the new season, the man the
whole league loved to hate the previous season, Corey Beaulieu, was on his way.
A few days later it was reported that Derek Laxdal, the previous seasons' top scorer, had
signed for the Steelers.
At the start of July Panthers third new signing was announced, Mark Kolesar, a 25 year old
Canadian with eight years IHL & AHL experience and a brief flirt with the NHL in
Toronto.
Steve Roberts was next to sign, an ECHL right winger with fairly impressive scoring
stats.
July 18th and the NEP reports that Roy Mitchell, ex Cobra defenceman had been
signed.
July 21st and a new netminder, Mike Zanier, signed as back up for "The
Robber".
July 24th and Teletext reports the signing of a "European style?" defenceman
Jeff DaCosta.
July 29th, Jarret Zukiwsky signs. Reportedly a high scoring player but his stats show him
to be more of a hard case! Time will tell.
July 31st Graham Garden joins, having spent numerous years in and turning out
for the Bison the previous year.
August 10th Pekka Virta, a 6'+ Finn signs "on loan" in an experiment to see how
a European player will fit into Panthers style of play.
The season started with a challenge game against Swedish side Troja Ljungby, with Jeff
DaCosta. & Jarret Zukiwsky still without work permits and Panthers with only 4
"D" men. Ashley Tait turned out and Panthers ran out 4-2 winners with Greg
Hadden getting an empty netter at the death.
At the end of the pre-season challenge games Panthers had proved too strong for the
league's newcomers, the London Knights and the depleted Riverkings, but had succumbed to
the Steelers. Hopefully the fact that both Kolesar & Beaulieu missed the game was
crucial to it's outcome.

After a generally successful
start to their Autumn Cup campaign, including a 3-3 tie at Manchester and a great 6-3 win
over the Steelers at the Stadium,
On Sept 15th Panthers announced the signing of a further D man, Eric Dubois, having played
the previous season for the DEL team to which Jeff Sebastian had departed earlier.
On the 20th Sep, Corey Beaulieu suffered a dislocated shoulder in the 3-2 home loss to the
Storm. The injury was expected to sideline him for about a month and reduce his
effectiveness for somewhat longer. Graham Garden in the meantime would cover the defensive
position. This was a blow as he had been one of the more effective forwards in recent
games.
After predictably crushing BNL side Slough Jets, Panthers were drawn against the Newcastle
Riverkings, who had struggled to overcome Telford Tigers 9-4 on aggregate. Panthers
progressed to the semi-final with 3-0 & 4-1 wins over the Riverkings.
In the semi-final the Storm were the opposition. The first game took place on the evening
of November 9th at the MEN Arena. Panthers, without injury victims DaCosta,
Roberts, Carpenter & Weber, came away with a narrow 3-2 loss, Leach netting both
goals. On Thursday 12th Panthers played hosts for the return leg. Still without
four injury victims, the 13 skaters turned around the 3-2 deficit to post an outstanding
3-1 success (5-4 aggregate), against arguably the leagues strongest team, boasting a full
roster. The atmosphere generated that night had been the best seen at the Ice Stadium for
many a year! In this game though injury struck again when Simon Hunt broke a thumb.
On to the final & joy of joys, Panthers overcome the Eagles 2-1 with Jason Weaver
& Darcy Loewen making their debuts, but Finn Pekka Virta stole the show with both
goals.
On a lighter note, Randall Webers' testimonial game took place on the 29th Sept. Jimmy
Keyes had flown in from Canada and a host of Panthers, past and present took part in a
game in front of 1600 fans.

The seasons' new tournament was the
Challenge Cup. The early stages were to be in the form of a league table, with points
gained from designated ISL games counting towards the table. At the end of the competition
the top four sides would advance to a knock-out, semi-final then final.
On the 10th Oct Panthers hosted the revamped Bees, having opened their league campaign
with a narrow 3-2 victory the over Champions Ayr Eagles. The Bees game was a real
thriller, Panthers winning 6-5 in overtime. Mike Zanier had a moderate evening. Of Bees 5
goals, one he should have stopped, one he could have stopped and one he might have
stopped. Robins came on at the start of the 3rd period with Panthers trailing 5-3. The
Bees were restricted to just 7 SOG during the 3rd period and OT, Robins stopped them all
and Panthers posted a memorable OT fight-back when Greg Hadden notched the winner 30
seconds from the end. The game was a personal triumph for Hadden as he scored 5+1.
On October 17th in the 3-6 home loss to the Devils, Panthers suffered a further injury
blow losing Jeff DaCosta to a broken ankle. He joined injury victims Steve Roberts, who
had suffered a chest muscle injury in the Bees game on the 10th and Corey Beaulieu, who
was still recovering from his dislocated shoulder sustained on September.
On October 29th Steve Roberts returned to action, after a five game absence, and scored 2
goals in a 4-3 away win over the much improved Knights. Unfortunately 44 seconds into his
second game he left the action with a dislocated shoulder.
More injury followed when Randall was injured in a similar fashion over the weekend of the
31st October.
Corey Beaulieu returned after a 12 game absence on the 8th November, in the disappointing
3-2 away loss the struggling Steelers. Unfortunately Steve Carpenter picked up a groin
strain in the same game and looked set to miss both B&H semi-finals against the
Storm.
Panthers still had only four fit "D" men, with DaCosta & Carpenter
sidelined, and Weber and Roberts missing from the forwards. Roberts was missed badly &
Panthers suffered a severe shortage of firepower.
The loss of Beaulieu to a one game ban, following the B&H SF1, left Panthers on the
verge of being fined for icing an under strength squad. Blaiser was "forced" out
of retirement after a two year absence. The thirteen fit skaters still managed a 4-2 home
over the Riverkings and 4-3 away over the Bees, the weekend following their B&H
heroics. Blaiser was reported to be enjoying himself after being checked through the
Zamboni doors at Bracknell, by giant forward Paxton Schulte.
On November 27th news broke that a new forward had been signed, Darcy Loewen.
On the statistical evidence he wasn't much of a point scorer and would be sorely put to
replace the injured Roberts from that aspect.
No sooner had the dust settled than Jason Weaver, a big left winger, was signed to take
the roster to 20.
After a fairly successful start to December, Panthers suffered a huge blow to any hopes
they may of had of lifting the League crown when on the 17th when they suffered a
dispiriting 7-4 away loss to the Steelers, who were reportedly in severe financial
difficulty. A lacklustre 1st period saw Panthers 4-0 down at the break. Hadden and Adey
continued to shine with 2+2 & 1+2 respectively, but Panthers had given the Steelers an
early Christmas present with some assistance from ref Andy Carson. Of more concern was the
fact that the first line of Kolesar, Leach & Weaver while looking good on paper, still
weren't racking up the points to be expected of such an impressive unit.
On Boxing Day, any hopes Panthers had of lifting the League title looked to have finally
ended when Cardiff came to town and went away with a 4-1 victory. Panthers without the
injured Weaver, Bobyck and the suspended Carpenter, lost Hadden after 5 minutes with what
looked to be a bad leg injury. The game itself was a disgrace, straight out of
"Slapshot".
The following night's game in Ayr saw Panthers without Weaver, Bobyck, Hadden, Carpenter
and Zukiwsky as the tiring side, 4-2 up with less than 5 minutes to play, lost 5-4 in OT,
Darcy Loewen sitting a minor, incurred 3 seconds from the end of regulation time. Of
Eagles 5 goals, 3 had been scored on the PP. Since the injury to Bobyck Panthers PK had
looked decidedly dodgy.
Early in January it was reported that Pekka Virta required an operation and would probably
miss the remainder of the season. To add to this woe, current league top scorer, Greg
Haddens' injury wasn't responding to treatment and he looked set to miss a minimum of 6
further weeks.
With 13 skaters once again Panthers entertained London Knights. The game was a triumph,
with Paul Adey registering 3+2, Jason Weaver 3+0, Mark Kolesar 0+4 & Jarrett Zukiwsky
0+3, as Panthers ran out 8-3 winners.
On January 14th, Panthers went to Cardiff with an injury ravaged squad once
again. Five missing players reduced the squad once again to 13 skaters as Brent Bobyck
played his first game since the Autumn Cup final. In a "back's to the wall
game", Trevor Robins was outstanding as Panthers came away with a 3-1 win on 2 goals
from Mark Kolesar and 1 from Steve Carpenter.
A week later the Devils returned to Nottingham and displayed a classic road game plan,
registering a 7-3 win, scoring 3 power play goals (one 5 on 3) and an empty netter.
Panthers, were still without Hadden, Virta & Zukiwsky. Leach lasted only until the end
of the first period in his return game and Robins had one of "those" nights, as
the 6 that went past him came from only 30 shots.
The following night the Panthers succumbed 4-0 at the Sheffield Arena. A pretty black
week-end all around & Panthers League challenge was well and truly done & dusted
for another season!
On Sunday Feb 21st Panthers visited Cardiff for the 1st leg of the Challenge Cup
semi-final and came away with a great 3-2 victory. Bearing in mind the results that the
Devils had obtained at the Ice Stadium this season though, the tie was far from over. In
the return the Devils overturned the previous result but Greg Hadden struck, on a backhand
pass from behind the net from Steve Carpenter, 15 seconds from the end of OT to secure a
final spot against the Steelers on their home ice. The Steelers had taken a shock 5-0 lead
to Manchester, where they again overcame the newly crowned League Champions with a 3-1
win.
In the final Panthers season long inability to show their home form away from the Ice
Stadium came back to haunt them. Although marginally outshooting their hosts the Panthers
went down 4-0, with Ken Priestlay netting an empty netter near the end to seal the game
for the Steelers.

Panthers started their play off
campaign with a home game against the Ayr Eagles. After cruising to a 3-0 lead by the end
of the 2nd period, Panthers seemed to take their foot off the gas and as a result spent
the 3rd period running around unable to re-exert their former dominance. The 3-2 victory
was met more with relief than anything else.
Game 2 was at Newcastle where the Panthers notched another unconvincing 3-2 win, this time
in overtime. After the Challenge Cup final disappointment Panthers went to Cardiff to
resume their play-off challenge and booked their place in the semi-finals with a great 3-1
win. In the return at the Ice Stadium on the 27th, Panthers triumphed 5-3 with Jamie Leach
grabbing a hat-trick. Panthers had topped the group and faced the Bees in their
semi-final.
The final game of the group stages featured a meaningless game in Ayr in which Panthers
went down 6-2. Beaulieu & Kolesar were rested, with Adey being saved for the
Manchester finals.
In the first semi-final the Devils overcame the hosts, Manchester, 5-0. In the second
semi-final the Panthers came back from a goal down to beat the Bees 4-2, with Jason Weaver
netting a brace. In a close fought final Panthers went down 2-1 to two breakaway goals
from Ivan Matulik, while Panthers' marker came from Mark Kolesar.

This had arguably been Panthers best
year ever. Benson & Hedges Autumn Cup winners, third in the League, appearances in
both the Challenge Cup and Championship finals. A season in which the effort of the
players had kept the fans happy.